FIFA imposes global bans on players, refs

FIFA extended life bans for two Armenian match officials on FIFA's international list, referee Andranik Arsenyan and assistant Hovhannes Avagyan. They admitted to trying to fix a Europa League match in July for a betting scam.

Arsenyan and Avagyan, who were both appointed in 2012 to FIFA's approved list for international matches, were previously banned for life by the Armenian federation and UEFA.

FIFA provisionally suspended Lebanese referee Ali Sabbagh, who is serving jail time in Singapore after being convicted of agreeing to fix matches in exchange for sexual favors.

The Asian Football Confederation provisionally banned Sabbagh for 30 days this month while it prosecutes a disciplinary case.

FIFA applied a life ban from all soccer duties to defender Elvis Liivamagi of Estonian club Tallinn Kalev. Liivamagi admitted to not reporting attempts to offer bribes, but had denied offering bribes to teammates.

The world governing body also extended provisional bans to players Marouane Troudi and Mahmoud Dridi and an official, Amir Jaziri, who are implicated in an ongoing Tunisian investigation.